THE PHILIPPINE COMMUNITY HERALD NEWSPAPER
SOUTH AUSTRALIA
“ SAMUT-SAMOT-SIMUT-SIMOT ”
( Cobwebs and Flying Ants ) by Norma Hennessy
This month of May marked the celebration of the 75th year anniversary of friendship between the Philippines and Australia since the first Philippine embassy was established in Sydney in 1946 .
However , relationship among peoples from the two countries began long before then - from when Manila men arrived in the northern shores of Australia to engage in pearl diving in the 1800s . Earlier still wad when some came as Asiatic mission workers serving under the wings of explorerclergymen who might have found them wandering in shipping ports of other lands where they either ‘ jumped-ship ’ or got lost and got left behind . You see there were stories of these that abound - orally passed on , mentioned in peoples journals or in writings about ‘ Asiatics ’ who claimed that their point origin was Manila and who arrived in this land Downunder as early as the 1800s . The term ‘ Filipino ’ at the time were limited to the rich , urbane mestizos and the ‘ insulares ’ who were Philippine-born Spanish bourgeoisie . The inhabitants were locally referred to as Indios and were called Manila men in other lands . Australia was linked to the Philippines via commerce through Hongkong as far back as 1840s . In 1847 , Australia was known to be the second largest market for Philippine coffee and was the primary destination for Philippine sugar . By late 1800s , when the pearl industry boomed -forming the spine of the Australian economy , Manila men were making their mark as pearl divers in Darwin ( then called Palmerston ), Broome and the Torres Strait Islands . A few established themselves as pearl lugger owners and business operators . In 1892 , a Kapampangan jeweler named Heriberto Zarcal , found his way to Thursday Island in the Torres Strait . In 1897 he had become a big man in the pearling industry
Heriberto Zarcal and the Noli Me Tangere Hotel ad clip ) - Source : National Library of Australia
At the Parliament House Photos taken by the SA Parliament House official photographer ’
Photos courtesy of Hon . Consul Darryl Johnson and Ben Hur Winter . being one of only 5 licensees to deal in pearls . In 1898 he was known to be an associate and a friend of Emilio Aguinaldo who the latter ‘ invited ’ to be an Australian-based ‘ correspondent ’ of the Aguinaldo-led-revolutionary government against the Spanish regime .
Zarcal owned a fleet of 16 pearling luggers and 6 cutters . He also built a hotel in Thursday Island that he named Noli Me Tangere which unfortunately was destroyed by fire in 1905 . Many of the earlier Manila men who worked in the pearling industry later moved on to work in sugar plantations in Queensland , or mining and pastoral industries in the Northern Territory .
Many of these Manila men ( Filipinos ) established families with the Aboriginal people and became instrumental in the spread of the Catholic religion in their adoptive communities .
Today the names - Cubillo , Perez , Flores , etc . bear long lines of Filipino ancestry in Australia . And of course , there was the cattle industry between the two countries in 1921 that opened the window of commerce and trade until 1930 . During the second world war , the Philippine Commonwealth President Manuel Luis Quezon ( and his entourage of cabinet officials ) were smuggled by the Americans into Australia before they journeyed onwards to the United States . On meeting the Philippine entourage at a train station in Terrowie , South Australia - their stop over on their way from Darwin to Melbourne , Gen . Douglas MacArthur ( who was then the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in the Pacific ) made his famous pledge to the Filipinos and to Manuel L Quezon - “ I Shall Return !” The promise held crucial importance for the morale of the underground Philippine guerillas who provided crucial intelligence and clandestine work for the Allied powers and they held on until the liberation . Gen MacArthur did so as he promised . He returned to the Philippines in grand manner with his famous landing in Leyte in the southern island of Mindanao . He brought along with him the biggest US armada in the Pacific 2 years after ( 1944 ) to recapture the Philippines from the Japanese . It is worth mentioning , too , that the guerilla intelligence work against the Japanese during the Second World War in the Philippines was ran and directed by the Allied Powers via communications coursed from Brisbane and Melbourne in Australia . There were Filipinos serving as American forces who were stationed in Australia throughout the war and dutifully served until this was over . Post war Filipino migrants to Australia came in waves . Since the 196Os when Philippine teachers and students arrived under the Australian program called the Colombo Plan , there was a steady stream of hard-working Filipino professionals and the community grew . Australian Filipinos established themselves in various areas with some becoming notables in their fields of expertise . Among those who rose to prominence were Pilita Corales ( who was Australia ’ s first female recording artist - ahead of Helen Reddy ). Pilita first established her singing career in Melbourne before she rose to celebrity heights in the Philippines . There was Frank Reys ( a noted jockey based in Queensland with over 1000 wins under his belt ), Kate Ceberano ( NSW-based music celebrity ), Craig Wing ( rugby player formerly with the Sydney Roosters ), Arianne Bo Caoili ( International Chess champion ), and Rudy Gomez an inventor and mining prospector in South Australia .
In recent years Melanie Perkins , a graphic designer based in Perth whose mother is a Filipina , became Australia ’ s youngest billionairess in 2020 .
The celebratorial anniversary discounted pre-war historical accounts by designating 1946 ( post war ) as the beginning of the ‘ friendship ’ worth celebrating .
It was a celebration instead of the establishment of a
Philippine embassy in Sydney in 1946 . Nevertheless , a celebration is a celebration . In South Australia , Premier Stephen Marshall hosted a dinner for the Filipino community on the 20th of May . On the 22nd of May , a Philippine-Australian Friendship Bench ’ was unveiled at the West Torrens Council to mark the occasion . It was hosted by Mayor Michael Coxon . The Friendship Bench was a project of the West Torrrens City Council and the Filipino Communities Council of South Australia headed by Carmen Garcia . Honorary Consul Darryll Johnson , Philippine honorary consul in South Australia attended the events on behalf of the Philippines .
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